Bedtime Whispers
By Christina Quick | June 17, 2008
Conversation last night while snuggling in the rocking chair with my 9-year-old.
Daughter: Mom, what do you want for your birthday?
Me: Sigh. Can you wrap this up in a box and put a bow on it?
Daughter: But you already have it.
Me: I know, but I’d like to keep it for a long time.
Daughter: Oh, you can.
Me: Promise?
Daughter: I never make promises because, well, I don’t want to break them.
Me: Sigh. That’s what I figured.
Topics: Parenting | No Comments »
Nothing Is Bigger Than Daddy
By Christina Quick | June 12, 2008
Nine years ago when our son was 2, we took him downtown to see the Christmas decorations in the small community where we lived. In the center of the square, there was a giant Santa that stood over 20 feet high.
As we pulled to the curb to look, our little boy’s eyes grew wide with excitement.
“Whoa, that’s big,” he said. “That Santa’s so big!”
Then there was a pause.
“But not as big as Daddy.”
We chuckled and assured him the Santa was much bigger than Daddy.
“No!” our little guy insisted, growing very serious. “Nothing is bigger than Daddy!”
That memory is precious. Over the years, it has reminded me how important a dad is in the life of his family. From a child’s vantage point, he’s larger than life.
Though the kids are older now, their dad’s status is still measured in epic proportions. Just yesterday, as they were arguing over some minor bit of trivia, I overheard my daughter say, “Let’s ask dad. Whatever he says is true.”
This is as it should be. A child who grows up with a positive view of his or her father is much more likely to be open to a relationship with the heavenly Father. Numerous studies have shown kids who are close to their fathers are also more apt to experience success in virtually every other area of life.
Earlier today I interviewed Dr. Meg Meeker, a pediatrician, family counselor, and author of Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters and Boys Should Be Boys: Seven Secrets to Raising Healthy Sons. She says the bond with a father is the most vital relationship in a child’s world after a relationship with God. In a culture that frequently runs down dads and diminishes the importance of fatherhood, it’s a daring statement. But I think it’s worth repeating.
So happy Father’s Day this weekend to my husband — and to all you great dads out there. You are bigger than you know.
Topics: Parenting | 1 Comment »
Mountain Scenes
By Christina Quick | June 11, 2008
I just returned from Montana, where I was on assignment for TPE. I had the privilege of worshiping Sunday morning with the folks at the Assembly of God church in beautiful Columbia Falls, where evangelist Bob Mortimer spoke. (Watch for my story on Bob and his family in an upcoming September issue of TPE.)
While driving across the state, I stopped and snapped some pictures of the scenery. The beauty of God’s creation never ceases to amaze and inspire me. It’s like a never-ending, outdoor worship service.
“Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; let them sing before the Lord” (Psalm 98:8,9).
Topics: Photos | 2 Comments »
Parents Clueless About What Kids Are Really Doing Online
By Christina Quick | June 5, 2008
Think you know what your kids are doing online? Think again.
According to a Harris Interactive Poll conducted for Symantec, maker of Norton security software, U.S. parents are clueless about how much time their kids are spending in cyberspace and what they’re doing there.
In a poll of parents with children between the ages of 8 and 17, respondents estimated their kids spend an average of two hours a month on the Internet. However, the kids confessed to 20 hours of monthly computer screen time — 10 times more than their parents thought!
Worse, 41 percent of 13- to 17-year-olds said their parents have no idea what they’re looking at on the Internet.
Here’s what the poll shows they’re really doing online:
• Social networking. More than three-quarters of teens visit social networking sites, compared to 47 percent of their parents.
• Meeting new people. A third of all kids polled and half the teens say they’ve made friends online. One in three rank cyber friendships as equal to or better than offline relationships.
• Being approached by strangers. Among all the children polled, 16 percent had been approached by a stranger online. Their parents guessed the number to be around 6 percent.
• Getting squeezed for personal info. About 4 in 10 teens have received an online request for personal information.
• Shopping. More than one in three children said they were “very confident” or “confident” shopping on the Internet.
This clearly shows closer monitoring of Internet activity is needed. Experts say providing Internet access in a child’s bedroom is a bad idea. Instead, they recommend placing the computer in a shared family area and limiting the amount of time kids spend online. It’s also a good idea to install software that blocks pornography and other inappropriate content. And teach youngsters not to disclose personal information or strike up conversations with strangers on the Internet.
For more information about Internet safety, visit NetSmartz.org, a Web site sponsored by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Topics: Internet | 2 Comments »
What Is Secondary Drowning?
By Christina Quick | June 4, 2008
A frightening story in today’s news draws attention to a phenomenon called secondary drowning.
Ten-year-old Johnny Jackson died Sunday several hours after inhaling water in a swimming pool at his South Carolina apartment complex. (The Associated Press story says he “swallowed” the water, but apparently it was aspirated into his lungs.)
After returning from the pool, the boy complained he was tired and took a nap. When an adult later checked on him, he was in respiratory distress.
The Post and Courier of Charleston, S.C., reported when the boy was found his lips were blue and he was foaming at the mouth. He later died at a local hospital. A coroner said there was water in his lungs, which caused asphyxiation.
“I’m still trying to wrap my mind around this,” the boy’s mother told the Charleston paper. “It’s really bizarre.”
Secondary drowning occurs in approximately 5 percent of near-drowning victims. Experts recommend medical attention for anyone who experiences breathing difficulty, pain, or other worrisome symptoms after being submerged, even if they seem to recover.
Though secondary drowning is somewhat rare, drowning in all its forms is the second leading cause of accidental death among children ages 1 to 14. As the swimming season gets underway, such tragedies serve as a reminder to parents to be vigilant about water safety, supervising kids in and around the water and insisting on lifejackets when boating.
Topics: Health | No Comments »
Obesity Epidemic Doesn’t Slow Kids’ Soda Consumption
By Christina Quick | June 3, 2008
In spite of dire warnings about childhood obesity in recent years, kids’ sugary soft drink consumption has been on the rise, a new study reveals.
Between 1988 and 2004, calorie intake from sugar-sweetened beverages rose 20 percent among kids 6 to 11 years of age, according to researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.
Consumption of sugar-laden beverages — including sodas, sports drinks and sweetened fruit drinks — also increased among the 2- to 5-year-old set.
The most common sugar-sweetened beverage was soda, and most of it was consumed at home.
“The amount of empty calories that children and adolescents consume each day is very disconcerting,” says Y. Clair Wang, one of the study’s authors. “Parents, school administrators, policy-makers and leaders in the restaurant and beverage industry can all play an important role in reducing sugar-sweetened beverage consumption.”
While another recently released study reported that obesity rates may be leveling off after surging for more than two decades, Columbia researchers caution that the pace at which young people are becoming overweight remains alarmingly high, with approximately one of every three American children and teens overweight and 16 percent reported as obese. The childhood obesity rates remain more than triple the rates recorded in the 1960s and 1970s.
In addition to adding empty calories to a child’s diet, soda may contribute to tooth decay and other health problems, such as diabetes.
“Soft drinks are very destructive to children’s teeth,” according to an article in Journal of Dentistry for Children. “Many of them contain not only processed sugar, but also carbonic acid, citric acid, and phosphoric acid. The acid in sodas slowly dissolves the enamel of children’s teeth.”
It doesn’t help that sugary drinks are heavily advertised to youth and prominently displayed on popular television shows like American Idol. But it’s up to parents to draw the line and place limits on the consumption of this liquid candy.
Topics: Health | No Comments »
Don’t Cling to Me
By Christina Quick | June 2, 2008
“I hope you used bug spray,” a woman said cheerfully as she passed my family on a local nature trail yesterday afternoon. “This place must be the tick capital of the world.”
We hadn’t thought to apply insect repellant. But I wasn’t too concerned. After all, the gravel path was wide and we had already warned the kids to stay away from the tall grass. She had to be exaggerating, right?
Twenty minutes later, our son noticed a moving speck on his pants leg. Then another. And another. Pulling up his shirt, he found three more ticks crawling on his bare skin! That’s when we realized we were all covered with the things — from tiny deer ticks to larger spotted ones. Resisting the urge to panic, we hustled back down the trail toward the mini-van, brushing and picking at each other as we went.
We spent ten minutes in the parking lot trying to rid ourselves — and our poor dog — of the unwelcome hitchhikers. Though the vast majority had not yet latched on, the sheer numbers were disturbing. At one point I literally shook several small ticks from my shoes. How we had failed to become aware of these sooner is almost beyond me.
At home, the next several hours were consumed with shaking out and washing clothes, using tweezers to remove the pests from the dog, and making sure everyone was bathed and tick-free.
I was amazed at how quickly this army of tiny parasites had invaded our space and wreaked havoc on our peaceful afternoon. Later I thought about how easily “little” things that often escape notice creep into people’s spiritual lives — things like envy, doubt, resentment, greed and lust. Once attached, these sins can drain the very lifeblood from an individual.
In the future, I imagine my family and I will stay off that particular trail during the summer months. And when we venture into the woods elsewhere, we’ll remember the repellant.
Similarly, as Christians we should steer clear of places where we know we’re likely to be bombarded with temptation. And we should remember to cover our lives with the “sin repellant” of God’s Word.
“I will set before my eyes no vile thing. The deeds of faithless men … will not cling to me.” (Psalm 101:3).
Topics: Faith | 1 Comment »
Alternatives to the Spam Diet
By Christina Quick | May 29, 2008
Sales of the canned meat product Spam are on the rise, according to an Associated Press story. The writer attributes the increased popularity of the processed pork in part to higher food costs.
“The Austin, Minn.-based company, also known for the Jennie-O Turkey Store, has embarked on its first national advertising campaign for the 71-year-old brand in several years,” the article says. “They’ve credited the sales increase to that, along with new products like individually packaged ‘Spam Singles’ slices. Also helping sales, executives said in an earnings conference call, was the fact that people looking to save money are skipping restaurant meals and eating more at home.”
According to the story, the average price of a 12-ounce can of Spam is $2.62.
I find this news disturbing, especially considering the high rates of obesity among children and adults. While it’s probably good that people are cutting back on eating out, especially where fast food is concerned, Spam is not what I would call a healthy alternative. The stuff is loaded with saturated fat, not to mention sodium and preservatives. Ingredients include pork parts, sugar, salt, starch and sodium nitrites. Not an ideal diet staple.
Hormel’s Spam Web site boasts, “In a perfect situation, Spam could last forever. It’s like meat with a pause button.”
I’m thinking “meat with a pause button” seems a bit frightening. Does a family really have to sacrifice nutrition to make ends meet? With a little creativity, no. For the benefit of those who may be considering stocking up on Spam, I’ve put together a list of things I do to cut grocery costs without relying on heavily processed foods. If you have some additional ideas, please share them with Refrigerator Art readers.
• Scan grocery ads. Some stores will match competitors’ sale prices on items like meat and produce.
• Use coupons wisely. They’re often issued by manufacturers of high-priced junk foods. Just because an item is 75 cents off doesn’t mean it’s the best value or healthiest choice.
• Shop the local farmer’s market. Not only are the fruits and vegetables fresher, they’re sometimes a fraction of the cost of supermarket produce.
• Select a whole chicken and cut it up rather than buying precut parts. Use the breast in a stir-fry, salad, or casserole and freeze the legs and thighs for later use. Boil what’s left and freeze the broth for soup.
• Have meatless meals, such as baked pasta and sauce topped with low-fat cheese.
• Plan meals that yield leftovers. This can spare you the expense of eating out for lunch the following day.
• Buy family packs of fresh meat when they’re on sale and freeze meal-sized portions.
• Grate your own cheese.
• Stretch a pound of ground beef into two meals by using half in spaghetti and saving the other half for pizza toppings.
• When forming hamburger patties, make the ground beef go farther by mixing in an egg and some oats or bread crumbs. (Chances are, your mom did it.)
• Before cooking a roast, slice off a piece of the meat to use later in fajitas.
• Instead of buying bottled water, invest in a reusable water bottle (be sure it’s BPA-free) and fill it with tap water.
• Plant a vegetable garden, or grow tomatoes in planters on the patio. Grow potted herbs in a windowsill.
• Use brown rice or beans as low-cost fillers in soups, wraps and casseroles.
• Give up sodas and substitute unsweetened iced tea or water with a fresh lemon slice
• To avoid the temptation of running to a restaurant when you’re pressed for time or dinner burns, keep ingredients on hand for at least one extra, easy-to-prepare meal. But please, no Spam. At least not very often.
Topics: Health | 2 Comments »
Parental Involvement Tied to School Success
By Christina Quick | May 28, 2008
A recently published study confirms what many parents and educators have known all along: students perform better in school when their parents play an active role in their education.
Researchers at the University of New Hampshire collected data from more than 10,000 eighth-grade public and private school students, their parents, teachers and school administrators. The study examined how frequently parents attended meetings and volunteered at school, and how often they discussed school activities and academic issues with their children.
Researchers weighed the benefits of parental involvement against other factors that could influence student performance, such as a school’s budget and resources.
“Parental effort is consistently associated with higher levels of achievement, and the magnitude of the effect of parental effort is substantial,” says Karen Smith Conway, a UNH professor of economics and one of the study’s authors. “We found that schools would need to increase per-pupil spending by more than $1,000 in order to achieve the same results that are gained with parental involvement.”
I think Conway’s figure is too low. No amount of funds or programs can take the place of parents who are invested and involved in their children’s lives. That may explain why homeschoolers outperform many of their peers.
How do you stay involved in your children’s education? Post a comment below.
Topics: Education | No Comments »
Sex Changes For Kids?
By Christina Quick | May 27, 2008
A pediatric endocrinologist at the Boston Children’s Hospital is creating controversy after recently launching a clinic where he prescribes hormone-blocking drugs for children as young as 7 to make it easier for them to get a sex change when they’re older.
According to a Liberty Counsel press release, Dr. Norman Spack administers either luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) or medroxyprogesterone, which blocks estrogen or testosterone to delay the onset of puberty. The drugs, which can cause permanent infertility, are meant to stop girls from developing their menstrual cycle, breasts and other normal female characteristics, and prevent boys from developing a deeper voice, facial hair and other normal male characteristics.
Shortly after halting puberty, cross-hormones would be administered to simulate the puberty of the opposite sex. Estrogen is given to boys and testosterone to girls. The final step would involve removal of male or female organs and plastic surgery.
Gender Identity Disorder (GID), which these children allegedly experience, is classified as a mental disorder. A GID diagnosis involves someone whose biology and physiology is indisputably male or female, but subjectively this person has a desire to be the opposite sex. Children who are diagnosed with GID later in life often abandon the desire to be the opposite sex.
In 1966, Johns Hopkins University started performing the nation’s first “sex reassignment” surgery in its Gender Identity Clinic. In 1979 the university hospital stopped performing these surgeries when it was discovered that the patients’ well-being did not improve and the procedures were destroying healthy organs. The hospital decided the best treatment was through psychology, focusing on healing the mind.
“Seven-year-old children are thinking about video games and riding their bicycles, not about artificially transitioning to the opposite gender,” says Mathew D. Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and dean of Liberty University School of Law. “Since Gender Identity Disorder is purely subjective, it is dangerous and unethical to give drugs to children to block the onset of puberty. Gender Identity Disorder is a mental, not a physical disorder. We do not treat anorexia with liposuction and we should not treat gender confusion with plastic surgery.”
If this is allowed to continue, I shudder to think of the long-term physical and emotional repercussions this will have on children and families. Drastically altering a growing child’s chemistry like this is wrong on so many levels and will likely unleash a host of devastating side effects. I wonder how long it will be before one of these young patients grows up and sues the people responsible for maiming him or her.
Topics: In the news | No Comments »
